EU starts charging €2 handling fee per product category on Temu and Shein parcels

A second charge on top of the €3 duty

The €2 handling fee applies to online-shopping parcels sent from outside the EU, whatever their value, so shipments above €150 are caught as well. It does not replace the €3 flat duty that has applied since 1 July to parcels worth under €150. It sits on top of it.

Both charges run per declared customs category, not per parcel or per item. Five identical T-shirts in one parcel trigger a single €2 fee, while a T-shirt and a watch trigger €4. The same rule governs the €3 duty, so mixed orders multiply both charges at once. Seventy-five per cent of the €2 fee goes to the EU budget and the remaining 25% stays with member states. The €2 fee is permanent and must be reviewed every two years; the €3 duty is temporary and runs until 1 July 2028.

What shoppers actually pay

A parcel carrying three product categories now attracts €9 in duty and €6 in fees. The total is €15 before VAT.

Legally the platforms, sellers or logistics firms pay the charge, and shoppers are not asked to settle it at the counter. Nothing stops operators folding it into prices, and the effect on individual orders depends on how retailers and delivery firms pass it on. BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation, warned that shifting the new cost onto consumers at the final stage of purchase is not legal under EU law, which requires the full price to be disclosed in advance. The Import One-Stop Shop, the system through which most of this trade is declared, covers an estimated 93% of e-commerce imports into the EU.

France has added its own €5 per-parcel fee. A French levy on ultra-fast fashion introduced in September could reach nearly €20 per item by 2030.

Volumes into the bloc are falling, by how much is disputed

The European Commission says low-value parcel imports have fallen 60% since the €3 duty took effect in July. Other estimates are lower and wider. BEUC cites a range of 30% to 70% and says it is too early to tell whether shopping habits have changed for good. French customs put the drop at 30% to 40%, and RTBF reported that Shein and Temu arrivals at Liège airport had halved. PostNL chief executive Pim Berendsen said international parcels fell nearly 32% year on year last quarter, while overall volume rose more than 2% on mailbox consolidation.

Juozas Kaziukėnas, an e-commerce analyst, said the duty sometimes doubled the total price of the cheapest orders. Temu listed the fee separately and Shein raised prices.

Platforms become the importers

The Council of the European Union adopted the customs overhaul on 3 September 2026. That makes non-EU platforms the legal importer of the goods they sell into the bloc. Repeat breaches can draw fines of 1% to 6% of a company's annual import value into the EU over the previous 12 months.

Shein has moved on logistics too. It opened a large hub near Wrocław in 2025, shifting toward bulk imports into EU warehouses.

What happens next

From 1 November, customs declarations must also carry a merchant code, the manufacturer's code and, where available, a barcode or GTIN. The aim is to flag non-compliant goods before they reach consumers.

The €3 duty is due to stay until 1 July 2028. The EU Customs Data Hub is meant to take over e-commerce processing then.